Ohio death row inmate dies in prison

Published: December 18, 2012 10:16AM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio death row inmate convicted of killing two young girls in 1996 has died in prison.

An Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman said 52-year-old Donald Lavell Craig died Friday at a prison medical facility in Columbus. He'd been hospitalized there since May, but the spokeswoman would not disclose his medical condition.

Craig has been on death row since 2004. He was convicted of abducting, raping and killing two Akron girls, ages 12 and 13. Both cases were solved through DNA testing tying Craig to the killings years after the girls died.

The father of one of the girls, Jerry Davenport, tells the Akron Beacon Journal (http://bit.ly/UOv0Ps ) that hearing of Craig's death "just made my day." He said it spares his family more years of appeals.